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Cookies policy
You can manage your cookie preferences at any time
Last updated: March 2025
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers downloaded onto a device when the user accesses certain websites. A cookie will allow a website to recognise a user’s device.
A cookie will contain the name of internet location (the domain) from which the cookie has come and the lifetime of the cookie (a cookie will usually expire after a certain period of time).
Cookies cannot be used to carry viruses, or install malware.
What types of cookie are there and which ones does WorldFirst use?
Two types of cookies are used on this website:
- Session cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you leave the site and;
- Persistent cookies, which remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer (though how long will depend on the lifetime of the specific cookie).
We use four categories of cookie on our website:
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential in order to use a website and its features. They ensure security and privacy when accessing secure sites. They do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or tracking where you have been on the internet.
If you choose to block these cookies you may experience reduced functionality and not be able to access all or parts of our website.
Analytics or performance cookies
These cookies collect data on how visitors interact with the website, including, but not limited to the number of visitors, pages or links accessed and length of time spent on the website or specific page. This statistical data is then used to improve the user experience.
Functionality and profile cookies
These cookies recognise your device when you return to a website. They enable personalised greetings, content and preferences as well as being able to remember login details.
Marketing cookies
These cookies gather information about your browsing habits by remembering your device has visited a website and sharing that information with other organisations such as advertisers or platforms on which a company advertises. They do this to provide you with online advertisements that are targeted to your browsing history and therefore more relevant to you and your interests.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
| Cookie name | Purpose/Description | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| _bl_uid | A specific identifier used to track a user's session or behaviour in the browser. | 180 days | Necessary |
| acw_tc | Used to enhance the security of websites and web applications | 30 minutes | Necessary |
| ar_debug | Supports Google attribution reporting API integration to reduce signal loss. | 30 days | Necessary |
| localTimeZone | Stores the user's time zone. | Session | Necessary |
| osano_consentmanager | Stores the current consent status of the user. | 1 year | Necessary |
| osano_consentmanager_uuid | Stores the user's unique consent identifier. | 1 year | Necessary |
| SERVERCORSID | This cookie is set by Slideshare's HAProxy load balancer to assign the visitor to a specific server. | Session | Necessary |
| SERVERID | This cookie is set by Slideshare's HAProxy load balancer to assign the visitor to a specific server. | Session | Necessary |
| spanner | Heat map analysis display. | Session | Necessary |
| sw | Used for purposes such as storing user session information, tracking user behaviour or authentication. | 1 year | Necessary |
| userId | Used for website user login. | Session | Necessary |
| wordpress_test_cookie | For testing and diagnostic purposes. When WordPress detects a possible problem with a plugin or theme, it sets this special cookie to check if the browser can accept cookies. | Session | Necessary |
| _uetsid | Collecting visitor behaviour data from multiple sites to present more relevant advertisements - this also allows sites to limit the number of times they see the same advertisement. | 1 day | Marketing/Analystics |
| _fbc | Placed by Facebook to store last visit | 90 days | Marketing |
| _fbp | Facebook sets this cookie to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting the website. | 90 days | Marketing |
| _gcl_au | Google Tag Manager sets the cookie to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. | 90 days | Marketing |
| _gcl_aw | Stores ad click information so that conversions can be attributed outside the landing page | 90 days | Marketing |
| _gcl_dc | The cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used for tracking ad clicks on DoubleClick, recording ad click data. | 90 days | Marketing |
| _gcl_gb | The cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used for tracking ad clicks on the Google Display Network, recording ad click data. | 90 days | Marketing |
| _hjCookieTest | Checks to see if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use cookies. If it can, a value of 1 is set. | Session | Marketing |
| _hjHasCachedUserAttributes | Enables us to know whether the data set in _hjUserAttributes Local Storage item is up to date or not. | Session | Marketing |
| _uetvid | Used to track visitors on multiple websites in order to present relevant adverts based on visitor preferences. | 390 days | Marketing |
| AnalyticsSyncHistory | For data synchronisation with third-party analytics services. | 30 days | Marketing |
| bcookie | Used to detect spam and improve website security. | 1 year | Marketing |
| bscookie | Used to recognise visitors through an application. For example, this allows visitors to log in to the website via their LinkedIn application. | 1 year | Marketing |
| id | Used for managing and optimising the display of advertisements across Google's advertising network. | 400 days | Marketing |
| IDE | Google DoubleClick is used to register and report on the behaviour of website users after they have viewed or clicked on advertisers' advertisements, with the aim of measuring the effectiveness of the advertisements and displaying targeted advertisements to users. | 400 days | Marketing |
| li_sugr | Collecting data on user behaviour and interactions to optimise the website and make advertisements on the site more relevant. | 90 days | Marketing |
| lidc | Registers which server cluster is serving the visitor. This is used in the context of load balancing to optimise the user experience. | 1 day | Marketing |
| MR | Used to analyse and track clicks on Bing ads. Stores user ID, ad display and click data. | 7 days | Marketing |
| MSPTC | For advertising and site analysis. | 390 days | Marketing |
| MUID | Widely used by Microsoft as a unique user ID. Cookies enable user tracking by synchronising IDs across many Microsoft domains. | 390 days | Marketing |
| receive-cookie-deprecation | Information on user behaviour is collected across multiple websites. This information is used to optimise the relevance of advertisements on the site. | 1 year | Marketing |
| UserMatchHistory | Track and analyse the behaviour and habits of website users. | 30 days | Marketing |
| _hjDonePolls | Hotjar cookie that is set once a user completes a survey using the On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the same survey does not reappear if it has already been filled in. | 365 days | Functionality |
| googtrans | The cookie is used to store the language selection for Google Translate, recording the target language chosen by the user. | Session | Functionality |
| robotId | This cookie is set by Xiaomoda to record the unique identifier of the user and the smart chat. | 4 hours | Functionality |
| robotName | This cookie is set by Xiaomoda to record the alias of the user and the smart chat | 4 hours | Functionality |
| robotSessionId | This cookie is set by Xiaomoda to record the unique identifier of the user's conversation with the smart chat | 4 hours | Functionality |
| wp_lang | Used to track and store user-selected language preferences for the site. | Session | Functionality |
| __emt_landing_last | 1. Tracking a user's first visit: helping website owners understand exactly what happened the first time a user visited a website. 2. Optimisation of the user experience: providing a more personalised experience by remembering information about the user's last visit. 3. Marketing campaign tracking: for websites that use certain marketing automation tools or services, such cookies can help track the effectiveness of specific marketing campaigns. |
330 days | Analytics |
| __utma | Google Analytics sets this cookie to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | 400 days | Analytics |
| __utmb | Google Analytics sets this cookie to determine new sessions/visits. __utmb cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. It is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | 30 minutes | Analytics |
| __utmc | Google Analytics sets this cookie to enable interoperability with urchin.js, an older version of Google Analytics and is used in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine new sessions/visits. It is deleted when the user closes the browser. | Session | Analytics |
| __utmd | Associated with the Google Analytics service which enables website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. | 30 minutes | Analytics |
| __utmt_UA-* | Google Analytics sets this cookie to gather statistical information about user behaviour on the website. | 10 minutes | Analytics |
| __utmz | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store the traffic source or campaign by which the visitor reached the site. | 182 days | Analytics |
| _ga | Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors. | 400 days | Analytics |
| _ga_RY038MK91J | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views. | 400 days | Analytics |
| _ga_Z1C97N01BT | Used to persist session state. | 2 years | Analytics |
| _gid | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store information on how visitors use a website while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the collected data includes the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. | 1 day | Analytics |
| _hjSession_1080835 | Gather statistics on visitors to the site, such as the number of visits, the average time spent on the site, and which pages were read. | 1 year | Analytics |
| _hjSessionResumed | A cookie that holds the current session data. This ensues that subsequent requests within the session window will be attributed to the same Hotjar session. | 30 minutes | Analytics |
| _hjSessionUser_1080835 | Gather statistics on visitors to the site, such as the number of visits, the average time spent on the site, and which pages were read. | 1 year | Analytics |
| isReturningVisitor28060 | Used to track whether a visitor is returning to the website, helping with personalised experiences and providing analytics data on user engagement and behaviour. | Session | Analytics |
| test_cookie | Cookies support detection: Check whether the user's browser allows cookies to be stored. Advertising effectiveness tracking: Helps advertisers understand the effectiveness of their ads and user behavior patterns, but test_cookie itself is more to ensure that other more complex tracking mechanisms can work properly. |
4 hours | Analytics |
First and Third party cookies
Whether a cookie is ‘first’ or ‘third’ party refers to the network placing the cookie. First-party cookies are those set by the website being visited, whilst third-party cookies are set by approved partners.
Some of WorldFirst’s performance and targeting cookies are managed by third parties. WorldFirst carries out due diligence on these partners to ensure they have robust security systems and only permits them to use cookies for their intended purpose. Data from third-party cookies is stored by the third party and not on WorldFirst systems, with WorldFirst being granted access.
From time to time, WorldFirst may also embed external content from other third-party websites within our own website and emails, this could include sites such as Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter) and YouTube. Their cookie usage polices are available on their own websites.
Please note the following third parties may deploy cookies on our Website:
- Cloudfare
- Slideshare
- Amazon Web Services
- AB Tasty
- Google / Google Analytics
- Doubleclick
- Meta (formerly known as Facebook)
- New Relic
- LiveAgent
- Hotjar
- Microsoft
- WordPress
- Xiaomoda
- Osano
We may (in accordance with our Website Privacy Policy) share data within the WorldFirst Group of Companies (including companies within the Ant Group) that may identify you.
Cookies in emails
We also use cookies and similar technologies in some emails. These help us to understand whether you’ve opened an email and how you’ve interacted with it.
If you have enabled images, cookies may be set on your computer or device. Cookies will also be set if you click on any link within the email. The types of cookies we use are:
Web beacons: unique identifiers placed in emails to tell us whether you’ve opened them (and if so how often) and how you interacted with them (for example the time you spent reading the email). We also use web beacons to help us display emails in the best format for your device.
Link tracking: some emails will contain a number of hyperlinks, each of which has a unique tag which can be tracked for analytical purposes.
Cookies: our process for delivering emails may cause cookies to be set when you download images or when you click on a link.
If you don’t want to accept cookies from our emails, simply close the email before downloading any images or clicking on any links. You can also set your browser to restrict or reject cookies. These settings will apply to all cookies on websites and emails.
In some instances, depending on your email or browser settings, cookies in an email may be automatically accepted (for example, when you’ve added an email address to your address book or safe senders list). Please check your email browser or device instructions for more information on this.
How do I change my cookie settings?
If you want to restrict or block the cookies we use, you can do this through your browser settings.
To learn more about controlling cookies on the browser of your mobile device, please refer to your handset manual.
Please note, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies you may not be able to access all parts of our website and may experience reduced functionality.
Changes to the Cookies Policy
We may update this Cookies Policy from time to time and you should review this policy periodically to stay informed. If you continue to use our services following any such update, you will be deemed to have read and agreed to the updated terms of this Cookies Policy.
